so i want to say a final thank you. thank you for being here. thank you for using your voice for good. on behalf of congress, thank you for sending a clear and unequivocal message to the world that the united states stands with israel now, tomorrow, and always. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. god bless israel. good night. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ please welcome aipac managing director for policy and politics, annie christiansen. >> good evening. our next guests are two leaders in congress who show how

democrats and republicans can cooperate to strengthen the u.s.-israel relationship. they work closely on pro-israel legislation in the house of representatives. and just last week they co-sponsored new legislation to impose sanctions against iran for its ballistic missile program. [ applause ] they also make time to travel to israel every two years with new members of congress to see firsthand the challenges israel faces. and they continue to join us on this stage for which we are very grateful. please join me in welcoming house majority leader kevin mccarthy and democratic whip steny hoyer. [ applause ] ♪

>> welcome. >> thank you. good to be here as always. >> with everything you have to manage, it must be a relief in front of an audience that just wants you to bring peace to the middle east, huh? >> it's a good thing to be with this audience, whatever they want. >> absolutely. [ applause ] >> you know, two years ago the three of us were in israel together. and we had lunch together. i remember it clearly, with over 40 members of congress, most of them freshman, and with a bunch of young israeli soldiers, many of whom had come from america, come to israel to defend israel. they had lunch with their members of congress. >> arnie, i have my phone with

me and i have a picture of a young idf woman who was with us. they were really excited. and i want to thank kevin mccarthy. we've done these trips a lot. that was the first time we had done them together, we overlapped and had the opportunity to show what i think is critically important to show, and that is that as paul ryan just said, it's the congress. it's not republicans. it's not democrats. it's the congress. and kevin and i work together very closely to make sure that happens. [ applause ] >> when i first became leader, the first thing i did was go down to see steny. if you watch us on tv, we debate a lot but we're still friends when the debate is over. if there's one issue that strengthens our friendship, it's israel. we make sure that issue is a bipartisan issue. [ applause ] but so many times on these trips where we bring freshmen to

israel, democrats would go one week, republicans would go the other. i said, why don't we overlap a few days? we started that last year. and i will tell you what, it's refreshing, because they see the exact same thing but they bond together just as we bond together in our votes and we're going to do it again this summer as well with all the freshmen going. >> outstanding. you know, congressman mccarthy, tell us a little bit about what it means to have freshmen there in israel, both for them to understand the issue and for building bipartisan support for israel. >> you can hear all about, and they understand the challenges of israel, but you do not know it until you see it. if you sit in the iron dome looking into gaza, or the narrowness, nine miles, it is a life changing event. when we sit there the night before departing, there was not a dry eye in the place. they were passionate before, but

as we have all these fiscal challenges, i guarantee you, my most conservative money will want to cut everything in the budget except the aid to israel because they know the importance of it. >> very true. you know, and then when they come back to congress, it's a chance to work together in a bipartisan way. the two of you are lead co-sponsors for legislation to push back on iran, to sanction it for its ballistic missile program. >> you heard, kevin and i co-sponsored it. we have mr. royce, the republican chair of the committee, and mr. engel, the ranking democrat on the committee. and i think one of the very, very positive things for all of you must be that on the foreign affairs committee, you see a lot of controversy, a lot of confrontation, a lot of disagreement, philosophical and political agreement in almost every committee, but you do not

see that with mr. elliott and mr. royce. they with working together. kevin and i are glad to work with them. i've had the opportunity to work with a number of leaders through the years. it seems to me, i sort of stay there, and the others come and go, but roy blunt and i worked closely together, tom delay and i worked closely together, as some of you know. and of course eric cantor and i worked closely together. i'm gland that kevin is keeping that tradition up and that we're working together on behalf of issues that clearly we have an agreement on, clearly we believe are critical to the national security of the united states of america, as well as to israel. the partnership that has maintained now since 1948 is one that's going to continue. i know if kevin and i have anything to say about it, as long as we're in the congress and working together. >> there's a good point too. and i kind of miss not being in the round.

iran has tested 14 times ballistic missiles. no other country has spent that much money without trying to pursue a nuclear weapon. that's why this bill is so critical at this juncture. and, you know, i missed that i didn't come in, but how refreshing is it to have nikki haley? [ cheers and applause ] i love it when she tells the u.n. human rights council they need to change. they need to focus on human rights and stop punishing israel for being a democracy. this is so refreshing to so many people inside congress. >> absolutely right. >> arnie, one of the messages that we need to send and why this legislation is so important, the jcvoa obviously has been controversial. it's in place, and it's being

followed now, as the speaker pointed out. it is relatively temporary. what we need to do is send a clear message. this sanctions legislation will do that, not notwithstanding the agreement on all that you do of a non-nuclear basis, we are going to step in quickly. the administration is going to do it, the congress is going to do it, to send a message that that activity is unacceptable, and we will respond and respond appropriately, vigorously, and toughly. [ applause ] >> and all of these activists will be showing up at your office on tuesday morning to make that case as well. >> good. >> we're talking about the reset with iran. there's other ways the relationship with israel continues to develop. congressman mccarthy, so important to your state, sometimes too little, lately a little bit too much now and then, but tell us about the possibility of israel and the

u.s. to working more closely together on water. >> there's so many places we can bond with israel. yes when it comes to security. but when it comes to technology, innovation, and especially water, how precious that is. look, i'm from california. and sometimes we have -- yes, we should applaud that. [ applause ] >> a little larger than maryland. but we've got a great crowd here, i'm sure. >> you don't see many republicans from california, that's my point. [ applause ] california has actually gone into a pact with israel because they know how precious water is. but look at what innovation they've been able to do. being able to turn salt water into fresh water. the one thing i want them to teach california is not to waste the water. when we're there, for drip irrigation and others, we bond

together. it only makes our two countries stronger when we're able to have that innovation, find the preciousness of water. what does water do? water grows so much. and at the same time, it's going to grow our crops, it's going to grow our relationships stronger. >> absolutely. >> you know, arnie, california obviously and the world has an extraordinary need for potable, drinkable, healthy water. so that's extraordinarily important. in maryland, one of the things we do is cyber security. we work a lot on cyber security. we have a cyber security center at the university of maryland and the national security agency is in your state and my state. and we hope that fbi is coming to our state. but we have seen how important cyber security is. we've seen it in this past election. but we've known about it for a long period of time. and the partnership we have with israel, which is of course one of the leading cyber security

technology proponents in the world, is we think very critically important. so there's so many areas, as kevin points out, where not only are we from a security standpoint partners, but we have so much in common, from technology, from business, from culture. that strengthens that relationship every day. >> absolutely. let me close with the assistance to israel. this year it's important, not only $3.1 billion, but the missile defense, cooperative missile defense. this year there's a lot of talk about budget constraints, competing demands. within your own caucuses, what's the temperature right now on aid to israel, and more broadly, on an american role in the world and funding an american role in the world? >> well, kevin pointed out earlier that his most conservative members. but i think the overwhelming

majority of the members of the house of representatives and the united states senate agree that investing in israel is an investment in america's security, america's values, america's future. [ applause ] i want to caution, though, everybody here. there has been a proposal, i do not know whether that will be followed through, of cutting very severely our foreign aid. i do not believe that that will adversely affect israel. what i do believe is to the extent it is further and further cut and israel becomes a larger and larger percentage, it will then be a focus and may well raise controversy, not that we don't need to israel, but that we have so little going to other places where we need to maintain security. general mattis has pointed that out. kevin, i know you've discussed it as well.

so we've got to make sure that not only do we meet our objections whi obligations which we agreed to under the obama administration, the half a billion for the missiles, i think paul said about iron dome being so spectacular. he's absolutely correct. what a success we had there, what a great investment that was. we need to make sure, not only does israel's support remain strong, but we also remain strong with other nations not only in the middle east but around the world, to make sure that we maintain our alliances that will be good for israel and good for us. >> it's true, we have a financial challenge. but if we all create peace in the middle east, why don't you help the only democracy in the middle east that believes in freedom, gives people the rights. that's the place to be. what's even more important, when

we look at our budget, why don't we fund our friends first? that's why israel will always win and always be the first. >> thank you, congressman mccarthy, congressman hoyer. >> i know that kevin and i want to thank all of you. because what you do every day, every month, every week, every month, every year, is to make sure that your neighbors and friend, our country and members of the congress know exactly what the issues are, how critically important they are, and give us good advice and counsel as to how we can make sure both israel and the united states remain strong and free and successful. thank you all very much. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. [ applause ] ♪